(c) According to the view of others, the _Almah_ is not a _real_ but only an _ideal_ virgin. Thus _J. D. Michaelis_: "At the time when one, who at this moment is still a virgin, can bear," &c. _Eichhorn_, _Paulus_, _Stähelin_, and others. The sign is thus made to consist in a mere poetical figure. (d) A composition of the two views last mentioned is the view of _Umbreit_. The virgin is, according to him, an actual virgin whom the Prophet perceived among those surrounding him; but the pregnancy and birth are imaginary [Pg 64] merely, and the virgin is to suggest to the Prophet the idea of pregnancy. But this explanation would saddle the Prophet with something indecent. _Farther_: It is not a birth possible which is spoken of, but an actual birth. From chap. viii. 8, it likewise appears that Immanuel is a real individual, and He one of eminent dignity; and this passage is thus at once in strict opposition to both of the explanations, viz. that of any ordinary virgin, and that of the ideal virgin. It destroys also (e) The explanation of _Meier_, who by the virgin understands the people of Judah, and conceives of the pregnancy and birth likewise in a poetical manner. The fact, the acknowledgment of which has led _Meier_ to get up this hypothesis, altogether unfounded, and undeserving of any minute refutation, is this: "_The mother is, in the passage before us, called a virgin, and yet is designated as being with child._ The words, when understood physically and outwardly, contain a contradiction." But this fact is rather in favour of the Messianic explanation.